A Morning Menu of LAF-Style Food News and Stories to Begin Your Day

Barbecue on Sunday

Sunday is not your best choice for barbecue touring in Texas Hill Country. That’s a day of rest for many of the great Q parlors. However, perhaps the greatest Texas Q joint of them all, Louie Mueller Barbecue, will begin seven-day operation this coming Sunday, January 4th. Ask for your brisket “moist” (from the fatty end) and don’t neglect their excellent house-made sausage.

How Is Shake Shack’s ‘Shroom Burger?

It IS possible for vegetarians to go beyond custard and concretes at Shake Shack.

Depending on exactly why you’re a vegetarian, you may or may not want to head to a Shake Shack on your own. But if you live in a city that boasts one, sooner or later you’ll probably find yourself at a Shake Shack with your animal flesh-eating friends. What will you do? If you don’t eat dairy, it’ll be a French fry feast for you. If the enslavement, but not the killing, of cows is alright by you, you’ve got a wide selection of frozen treats to choose from, and the ‘Shroom Burger. That’s a portobello mushroom stuffed with two cheeses, then breaded and deep-fried. It’s served on a bun with lettuce, tomato, and ShackSauce. How is it? The folks at Wait, Wait … Don’t Tell Me say it’s “quite possibly the best veggie burger ever made.” Read the entire piece here.

Stroud’s Bringing Fried Chicken to Independence, MO

Does Stroud’s of Kansas City make America’s best fried chicken? We think so.

Stroud’s is expanding. They opened a third fried chicken restaurant in Overland Park, KS last summer. The latest word is that Independence, MO will get the fourth Stroud’s, with a fifth one possibly in the works for Topeka, KS in 2016. Stroud’s specializes in that restaurant rarity, pan-fried chicken, and does so without peer. We haven’t been to Stroud’s since KC Hopps became a partner (only the one in Kansas City known as Oak Ridge Manor is not partially owned by KC Hopps). Has quality suffered since then (October 2013)?